No . 132 The Trusty Servant
Peter Tombling RIP
Robin Bosanquet ( I , 57-62 ) remembers : I was sorry to hear of the death of Peter Tombling . The tribute captured very well the man I remember .
When I went to Hopper ’ s , he was the tutor who used to pad around in the evening gently helping us with work , particularly maths . His signature comment was always ‘ That ’ s jolly nearly jolly good .’ I always took that as high praise .
He and Julian Smith would sometimes give informal recitals in Ian Gammell ’ s drawing room . Julian ’ s voice and Peter ’ s piano accompaniment was a sublime combination . The highlight was The Erl King by Schubert , which always held us spellbound .
Reeling at Win Coll
Andrew Ford ( G , 56-61 ) explains the Assault at Arms : When I was in the School , the Assault at Arms was a sort of gymnastic display with occasional extras such as our Scottish Country Dancing venture . I remember having to do a quick change afterwards so that I could MC a boxing demo . I remember my father ( G , 24-29 ) telling me that back then the centrepiece of the Assault at Arms was a three-way fight between the captains of VI . Each wore a fencing mask adorned with paper streamers of the appropriate colour and was armed with some sort of cudgel . The winner was the last man with any plume left .
Keith Howman ( E , 49-53 ) recalls an earlier reel : With some trepidation I am claiming an earlier date to those tracked down by Fiona Smith .
In 1950 or 1951 I decided it would be fun to have a Win Coll Scottish Country Dancing Club . If I remember correctly if anyone wanted to start a new school Club they had to have the backing of a don . I approached John Gammell , whose family were near neighbours in Perthshire and also neighbours of John Gibb ( C ), who supported the idea . Also in support was Sandy Younger ( F ). John Gammell agreed and so I formed up in front of Walter Oakeshott ( the only time I spoke to him ) and asked for permission . This was given and weekly dancing classes were held in Old Gymna with the permission of Hodges . It went well and our old 78 records of Jimmy Shand and Jim Cameron got well and truly worn . In 1953 we had the idea that it would be more fun if we could get in a group of girls . But how ? John Gammell to the rescue again . His sister , known as ‘ The Gam ’, was Headmistress of North Foreland Lodge and he agreed to ask her . The idea was approved and so a group of sixth-form girls came to have a great evening with us , including if I remember correctly Princess Margarethe of Denmark . I do not recall any dinner jackets but certainly some of us wore kilts .
In addition , Keith shared the following cygnine anecdote about his housemaster , Colin Hunter : Colin Hunter was very skilled at doing nothing and leaving boys who had erred not knowing if he was going to do something about it or not . One such occasion involved my elder brother and Richard Tyser . They had bonked a belligerent swan on the head with a dutch hoe . They took it up to house , plucked it , cut off pieces and started frying it when they should have been in bed . Hot air rises and the smell of frying swan percolated upstairs to Colin ’ s study . He came down to investigate , opened the study door , observed the sizzling swan , said ‘ Oh my gosh ’ and walked out ! He never said another word , leaving a couple of boys in dread for weeks not knowing what he was going to do about it . Very skilful and of course they never forgot it .
Notions of the Naahties
Edward Craig ( K , 91-96 ) writes : Rupert Mercer ’ s non-official Notions piece was a cracking read … but he needed to dig deeper . This language was around and evolving when I was at the school – and is still a source of great amusement to a load of us in our mid-40s now . I can ’ t claim we invented it , but I know it pre-dates Mr Mercer ’ s research - it pre-dates me after all . What ’ s more , I have proof ! I appeared on Radio 4 show Word of Mouth in 1995 , as a pupil , talking about precisely the same thing . I don ’ t have a recording but I do have a very bizarre but official transcript of the interview . Try transcribing that nonsense !
Readers interested in seeing the transcript – which also features Rufo Quintavalle ( Coll , 91-96 ), Edmund Griffiths ( Coll , 92- 97 ), Colin Badcock ( Coll , 39-43 ; Co Ro , 49-76 ; Go Bo , 77-92 ) and Simon Woolley ( Coll , 83-88 ; Co Ro , 92-15 ) - should email trustyservant @ wincoll . ac . uk .
HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
George Willett ( D , 44-49 ) writes : A further modest link with Win Coll was provided by my late brother Commander William Willett OBE , MVO , DSC ( D , 32-36 ), who joined the RN after leaving the school . He was Sailing Master of the Royal Family yacht Bloodhound in 1967-68 and went on to serve as the Prince ’ s Private Secretary from 1970 until his sudden death in 1976 . The Prince read the lesson at his memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields . During the latter period he and his family lived in Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace , where 40 + years later Prince Harry and Meghan lived before their marriage : it was a more modest establishment in those days .
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